For orchestral music, the 150-mile stretch between Birmingham and Atlanta might pack the best one-two punch in the nation. Deciding between number one and number two is a matter of pride and preference - and an exercise best left alone. Each ASO - the Alabama and the Atlanta - is playing at the top of its game, possibly the best in their respective histories.

The most obvious differences between the ASOs are size and budget. Atlanta employs 95 full-time musicians; Alabama, 54. With an annual operating budget of $6.3 million, Alabama is a little more than one-fifth the size of Atlanta, which operates with $30 million. That amount is expected to jump to $50 million after the 12,000-seat Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, the ASO-operated summer facility, opens in May in suburban Alpharetta. It will place the Atlanta Symphony nearly even with the New York Philharmonic, the nation's fifth largest. The Alabama Symphony ranks 49th. Atlanta Symphony musicians earn more than twice the $34,000 base salary of Alabama Symphony musicians.

The Atlanta Symphony, which records for Telarc, has won 23 Grammy Awards, and has nominated for two more this year. The Alabama Symphony just released its first CD in several years, for Bridge Records.

Musically, an apples-to-oranges comparison is harder to quantify. But if concerts last weekend are indicative, each orchestra is a powerhouse in its own way.

Justin Brown thrilled sold-out audiences recently with its "Beethoven Fifths" (piano concerto and symphony) program. On Feb. 1 in Jemison Concert Hall, he connected with musicians by conducting and soloing at the keyboard in the "Emperor." He fashioned the Symphony No. 5 into a new listening experience and bridged the contemporary gap with a suave and intricate reading of Elliott Carter's "Soundings." The orchestra's gripping performance was evenly balanced among all sections, but was especially virile in the low strings.

On Feb. 2, Atlanta Symphony Hall resounded with Russian music, ASO Music Director James Spano and pianist Yefim Bronfman feeding off each other's energy in Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2. The opening movement started with relentless drama, then subsided to shimmering stillness. The fiery, impossibly difficult Scherzo progressed through the clownish, tongue-in-cheek Larghetto to the Finale, in which Bronfman's formidable technical skills met with his arresting force. An encore, Prokofiev's "Precipitato," from Piano Sonata No. 7, had the crowd buzzing at intermission.

The Atlantans like to show off their weighty sound, and they used it to their advantage in Rachmaninoff's rarely-heard (likely for its long-windedness) Symphony No. 1. The 60-strong string section can form a sonic wall, but it is too often covered by the brasses. Like the so-called "top five" orchestras (Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia), they draw on an enormous sonic palette of orchestral color, driven by Spano's poetic insights.

Many of the orchestra's perceived weaknesses - a harsh sound, a less than luxuriant blend, occasionally muddy textures - can be attributed to the hall's brittle acoustics, and they're conspicuously missing in their recordings. With fundraising stalled for the $300 million Atlanta Symphony Center, they'll likely have to live with the Woodruff Arts Center facility for at least another decade. But there's no denying that the orchestra's star is rising, both live and on record.

Momentum is also on the Alabama Symphony's side, perhaps more so than the other ASO. Brown has made a very good orchestra a great one, breathing new life into a regional band that plays in a small hall with superb acoustics. It's that closeness and intimacy that can blow listeners away - not with a wall of sound, but with breathtaking, heart-pumping music making.

Take your pick - large or small, an international reach or a regional phenomenon. The South is a good place to be.